Riders at the British Downhill Series will no longer be allowed to use tear offs on their goggles.

Tear offs are thin plastic strips that are put onto goggles before a race run. When a rider’s goggles get too much mud on them during a run they can rip off this strip and have clear vision again. However, the strips are often just discarded on the side of the trail creating a litter problem for the venues and the BDS team – especially as the plastic tear offs are not biodegradable

>>> Three ways to keep clear vision on the trails

Si Paton, BDS organiser, said: “The BDS team has always considered the collection of used tear-offs along the race track and surrounding areas as one of their roles and responsibilities. With increased pressure environmentally, due to the nature of the disposal of tear-offs we can not guarantee 100% pick up of said litter.

Think of venues like Fort William and Moelfre when on a windy day the tear-offs may well end up in the next county.”

There are other ways to clean your goggles, such as the plastic pull-through systems where a roll of plastic can be slid across across the goggles with similar effect to a tear off but the roll remains attached to your goggles.

The BDS team has said it will allow riders to use a single tear off with the plastic tearing strip removed to protect the lenses of riders.